Town of Brookline appeals AG gas ban decision

Brookline, MA

Apr. 26, 2022 – Today, the Town of Brookline and the petitioners of Brookline’s 2021 gas bans, known as Warrant Articles 25 and 26, appealed the Attorney General’s rejection of the two bylaws. Supporters of this effort include the nonprofit ZeroCarbonMA. 

Filed with the Supreme Judicial Court, the appeal is a response to the latest state preemption of local attempts to combat climate change. Brookline’s status as a town requires that all changes to bylaws be approved by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). In contrast to the AGO’s long history of zoning bylaw approvals in municipalities throughout the state, the AGO’s rejection of Brookline’s 2021 bylaws would effectively strip local governments of much of their traditional zoning power. 

”Construction costs for all-electric buildings are similar to gas, yet have lower life cycle costs, lower operational costs, lower emissions, and result in significantly improved outdoor and indoor air quality — as well as substantially better health outcomes,” said architect Lisa Cunningham, a co-founder of ZeroCarbonMA. “We have to decarbonize and electrify our existing buildings, but in the meantime it makes no sense to be building new fossil fuel infrastructure that we know we actually need to be ripping out, at far greater cost than building it correctly the first time.”

"We are appealing this ruling because the Commonwealth must give all municipalities permission to stop digging our climate hole deeper, if it is to meet its own legally binding emissions targets,” said Heather Hamilton, Chair of the Select Board of Brookline.

The AGO’s rejection (Globe article) is rooted in outdated law and does not take into account the Commonwealth’s legally binding emissions targets. It says that it is illegal for Brookline to incentivize a choice — one that consumers in a climate-change-aware world will increasingly be making anyway — simply because it might cause some consumers to choose electric over gas.

The appeal highlights how the State could and should be encouraging Massachusetts cities and towns to protect themselves from the folly of installing new fossil fuel infrastructure as the Commonwealth moves to meet its net zero greenhouse gas emission goals. Instead, the Attorney General’s decision implies that local governments must remain on the sidelines, powerless to meet their own climate goals or address our climate crisis.  

“This AGO rejection is an example of the state actively intervening to stop productive local efforts to solve this problem. This leaves Brookline without the authority to help the state meet its own climate goals. We call upon Governor Baker, the gubernatorial candidates and the State legislature to come together to solve this problem before the end of this legislative session by passing and signing the Senate’s new climate bill, the ‘Drive Act’”, said Jesse Gray, the Chair of Brookline’s Zero Emissions Advisory Board and co-Founder of ZeroCarbonMA.

About ZeroCarbonMA

ZeroCarbonMA was founded by the team behind the first ban on fossil fuels in new construction and major renovations outside of California, and was incorporated as a non-profit in 2022 in order to continue to advocate for state and local climate policies that are truly commensurate with the mandate to achieve net-zero by 2050 and a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. For more information, please visit www.zerocarbonMA.org and follow ZerocarbonMA on Twitter. Media should contact info@zerocarbonMA.org.